How Many Calories Maintain Your Goal Weight

To maintain 150 lb at moderate activity, a 35-year-old who is 5 ft 8 in needs about 2,170 calories a day. Eat at that level and your weight holds steady; eat below it to lose, above it to gain. We estimate maintenance with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation multiplied by your activity factor. The chart shows how maintenance calories shift across nearby body weights.